A Woman's World

Watching, listening and learning is the key to better character writing.

I've been in the Southern Hemisphere for almost a fortnight, the Indian Ocean and southern African winter weather still an improvement on this year's fragile British summer.

I've spent almost every day in the majority company of women, all of whom I've met previously but infrequently as a consequence of distance. Having no sisters or daughters and being the only UK-born person in these gatherings, it's been an interesting time to listen and learn from those born and still embedded within different cultures and environments, especially as the protagonists in my first two novels are both young women, each with their own set of unique, difficult circumstances.

So I wanted to capture the essence of what I've learnt whilst ensuring anonymity. I'm keen to portray some of their lives with empathy whilst retaining a bare-boned simplicity. It's a rare privilege to be sufficiently intimate to portray their struggles and their joy, their losses and successes, their sickness and their health, their pain and their laughter.

I hope my naïve vignettes below justly portray their fortitude, resilience and courage.

JR